With rapid development of the information technology, a terminal device may receive broadcast information by businesses or governments such as commodity sales, promotion of merchants, offered services, and present the broadcast information to the user. After receiving the broadcast information, the user may then download or log onto a corresponding application on the terminal device to obtain the corresponding information or service.
Various types of information broadcast devices, such as WI-FI devices, Bluetooth devices, base stations, or information transmission apparatuses in dedicated frequency bands, may be used by merchants or individuals to provide the broadcast information. When entering into a service area, the user may turn on the corresponding information receiving device or application to search for the available service information in the surrounding area. After receiving broadcast information via the corresponding receiving device, typically the user needs to establish a communication connection with the information provider, identify content of service information, and then determine whether to obtain the service according to the content of the service information. If the user determines to obtain the service, the user may further start running the corresponding application in the terminal device or perform other actions. For example, merchants may offer a ten percent additional discount for users connecting to special promotion webpages for purchasing commodities via a wireless network S1 of shopping mall S. To take advantage of the offer, user A may use a terminal device to search for the wireless network S1 provided by shopping mall S via a WI-FI device, connect to the wireless network S1, and start running the shopping mall application pre-installed on the terminal device. In the meantime, user A may search for a wireless network M1 broadcast by restaurant M via WI-FI and receive electronic coupons for restaurant M by connecting to the wireless network M1.
After the user receives broadcast information of a merchant through the terminal device, it is generally required that the user further establish communication connections with the information transmission device of the merchant to learn the specific content of the service information or enjoy the corresponding service. When service information is available from various information providers, the user would be required to establish an active connection with each of the information providers, such as accessing the information provider's wireless network or logging onto applications related to the information provider. The process to obtain content of service information is relatively cumbersome, and as a result, the user may be unable to promptly select the desired service especially when a large number of information providers are available in the surrounding area.